and we just keep running
by talk of michelangelo
Summary: she runs when she has nowhere to go; he runs from himself because there really isn't anywhere else for them.


Dana Cruz and Logan Reese are on the track team for a reason. He runs because he wants to be alone for once - shockingly - away from other people who want him for his money and connections. She runs because she wants to get away, and because there's nowhere else for her to turn.

i.

They snicker as she walks past with her dark clothing and rolling eyes and eyeliner, and she catches whispers of, _Emo bitch._ But she's gotten used to it. She's scary, that Danger Cruz. She's scary and angry and acts like the world owes her something that it took from her when probably, at home, she's waltzing around with maids and butlers and has iPods by the dozen and rich dinners every night. She acts rich, anyways, throwing around money like she doesn't need it. They can't even see through her wall, her fake face; how do they expect her to open up and become a sunshine girlie?

"Hey Daaaana," Some dolled-up girl is up in her face now. She's obviously looking for glamour.

"Fuckface," Dana greets her. The girl wrinkles her nose with distaste at Dana's choice selection of words. "If you don't need anything, get out of my face." As if she's going to spare any of her precious lunch time for some girl who wants to play-fight. When the girl doesn't budge from her spot, leering at Dana as if to wait for her to make the first move, Dana rolls her eyes. "Look, honey, I'm trying to eat my noodles in peace. Either you get out, or I can take you out." She does not bluff; bluffing is stupid. But Dana is fit from basketball and jogging, and she is strong from having to shove people off of her all the time.

"Uh no. I'm pretty sure I can knock you out, dolly." At this, Dana snarls. She loathes being compared to a doll at all. Having gorgeous curly hair and nice skin does not equal Barbie and her friends. "Oh, sorry, did I hit a sore spot?" She pouts in a mocking fashion.

Dana sets down her instant noodle cup. She lunges. The fight starts.

Later, Dana Cruz and Amelia Cerfert are admitted into the principal's office. Cerfert gets off easy because of her weepy 'Dana provoked me first' act ( the black eye and bruises and cuts did help, unfortunately ). Dana doesn't get off as easy. It's not her first offense, but they want to make it her last.

"Look, Dana, it's not that we want to punish you." The Dean tries to look sympathetic. Dana glares into his eyes. He's such a bad actor. "We want you to be a better person, but it won't happen if you continue to get into fights."

"Mm," she grunts, flipping back some stray curls. She doesn't say that Cerfert was the one to try and knock up a fight. They won't believe her, because they never believe her.

"We want you to try out for a team, Dana. Maybe some teamwork will crush the idea of communication and friendliness into you. It's not a suggestion, either. If I hear from any of the coaches that there has been no Dana Cruz, it'll be another strike on your part. You can't afford another strike, we both know that." The Dean leans in for that last part, as if it's a secret between him and Dana.

"Mmhm," Dana lifts her chin a little in defiance. She can't stand being ordered around.

"Now get out of my office, Dana, I have a game of table-golf to play." _What, the, fuck, _she thinks to herself, but she keeps the thought locked inside her head.

She leaves, and then decides to try out for basketball, which is expected of her.

"Look, Dana, tryouts were last Monday. We've got the whole team assembled now, we can't just take you in without notice. Besides, I asked you if you wanted to try out already." The basketball coach frowns, a little regretful that Dana didn't try out, because he's seen her play.

"Please," she says, halfway to pleading. Her mamma will be so disappointed if she's kicked out of PCA - and the one thing Dana doesn't want to do is disappoint her mamma.

"I'm sorry, Dana. You should've come on time." He leaves, and she punches the wall so hard she tears her knuckle and has to go to the infirmary.

"Dana...?" Nicole's voice rebounds off the walls. "Are you okay? We heard what happened with Amelia Cerfert."

"Man, what went down was sick!" Michael's voice topples over hers, but a smack from Zoey quiets him down. Dana turns to look at the group of people, all decorated with worried expressions, towering over where she sits, staring at the white bandage wrapped over her hand.

"I'm fine," she replies curtly, and when she says nothing more, they all leave, except for Nicole, because Zoey has to go to basketball practise ( since she actually tried out ), and Michael has gone to find Quinn for some potato chips, and Chase has gone to stop him from getting those potato chips.

"Dana," Nicole says quietly, and it's weird to hear her tone so low, because usually, it's at the top of the world.

"She was provoking me, the bitch," Dana growls. "And after, she fucking cried to the Dean. Fuck! Fuck!" She starts to yell, but Nicole just watches because there's nothing she can really do besides that. "What the fuck do I do, Nicole?" Her voice breaks.

"What are you supposed to do?"

"Communicate and be friendly and learn teamwork. I can't get kicked out of PCA, I can't. Really." She turns away from Nicole and scratches at the stray tear that's leaked out. When it's gone, she turns back with fierce eyes.

"There's still track and field, and soccer..."

"Soccer's for wusses!"

"I like soccer..." Nicole pouts, kicking at the ground with her boot.

"No, you like shirtless boys playing soccer." Dana rolls her eyes when Nicole makes a face of 'I surrender' and cries,

"Same difference!"

So she tries out for track and field, because she's good at jogging and she figures track and field shouldn't be too different from training for basketball. She signs her name with a flourish on the sign-up sheet, and half a week later, they announce the times for try-outs. So she goes, donning her basketball shorts and her older brother's t-shirt from college, and she runs.

ii.

There are girls flocking towards Logan, and there's only three plausible reasons: One, because he's rich, and Two, because he's good-looking. The third reason he excludes, and that's because nobody ever goes to him for _that_ reason. The third reason is because they actually like him as a person, and they just want to talk after a long day of school. But nobody ever talks to Logan Reese _just because_, they always have a reason.

It's probably his fault for buttering it up and making it so that _everyone_ knows the son of Malcolm Reese.

"Hey babe," he smirks, and the girl rubs herself against him. He doesn't even remember her name, but he knows he slept with her twice, and she was pretty good, in their drunken state.

"Hey Logan," she purrs, and then goes on her tip-toes and tickles his ear with her whispers of, "Can I borrow fifty bucks?"

He blinks. He should have known that was coming. In the world of poor people, the phrase _Can I borrow money?_ is as good as saying _Give me some money, I'll pay you back in another lifetime_. But he slides fifty bucks into her hand, grinning and kissing her neck before he leaves. As he goes, he hears her laughing to her friends about how putty he is in her hands. She wishes.

"Logan!" Quinn is dashing up to him. "I need to know your measurements!"

Against his will, his face bursts into flames. " - The fuck? Why do you need my _measurements?_"

"I'm conducting an experiment to see if ten male specimens' personalities play a part in their measurement. Of course, they always say that the cockier a boy is, the smaller his... ahem... is. I'm seeing if that's true, of course." Quinn flips back her hair and smiles.

"No," Logan begins walking away from her. How glad he is that he didn't sleep with Quinn in the few months that they were dating. Now, everything's the same as it was before, except that Quinn feels a little more need to torture him every once in a while ( even though she was the one who wanted to break up in the first place ).

"But Logan, you're a necessity to this experiment! You're so arrogant and cocky that it's like you're a whole new species of the male gender!" Quinn yells at him from behind, as he strolls away, his ears red. He doesn't need Quinn to tell him that he's arrogant. And cocky. Arrogant and cocky. That's how people describe him. Even in the four months they were dating, Quinn still hasn't been shaken from her belief that he sits on his high pedestal.

He shakes his head and goes to have a nap.

When he wakes up, he's aching everywhere, and Michael and Chase are laughing at him. He makes an indignant face at them.

"Dude, you were sleeping in the greatest position _ever_." Michael attempts a standing demonstration of it, but fails miserably, and that sets off another booming laugh attack from both his roommates. Logan flashes them the finger and gets out of bed, trying to soothe his sore muscles. It couldn't have been _that_ bad, he thinks as he rubs his neck.

Dana pushes past him. As he prepares a snarky comment, he realizes that she's already running and gone, and he rolls his eyes and shakes his head, and chases after her.

"Hey, Cruz!"

"Get away from me, Reese," Dana says, turning her head to shoot him a warning glance. "I'm busy."

"You can't be busy, you're just running," he scoffs.

"I'm _training_," she corrects him hastily, her breath coming in short bursts, "And I've been running non-stop, so don't judge me." As her legs continue to move, she brings a hand up to move hair that's caught onto her face.

"Training for what, running from the cops?" He snickers. Dana takes a deep breath and ignores him, continuing to run.

"No, dumbass, I'm training for track and field - not like you'd care, you get more exercise doing those whor-" He tackles her, covering her mouth.

"Are you trying to say something?" He hisses at her, their faces only an inch apart. Her eyes flash challengingly and she bites him.

"Ow!"

"What if I am?" She answers his question, shaking her curls back behind her shoulders. "All I'm trying to say is that you're such a man-whore that sex _is_ your daily exercise." She smiles angellically at him, and he feels his blood boiling.

"You're a bitter bitch, you know that?"

"Yup. It's half your fault." She smiles again, but this time, it's one of the coldest smiles he's ever seen - and it's strange, because it doesn't fit her, even though it fits her personality. Dana is all warm colours - caramel eyes and chocolate-blonde curls and tanned skin. Sometimes he wonders if there's a cold person out there too - blue eyes and blue skin and blue hair.

He snorts at her, though, as they begin to silently run together.

When they're done running, they slump down on a park bench and pant.

"Are you trying out for the team?" Dana's question is out-of-the-blue.

"I guess. I got nothing better to do." He doesn't tell her that when he runs with her, he shuts out the rest of the world because it's kinda cool just to be in sync with her footsteps, breathe when she breathes. He doesn't tell her that he forgets about the girls who want him for his money and his looks and for status, because she's nothing like that - she's just a girl who doesn't really like him, but will tolerate him just because she's the same as him.

"Good. I don't wanna try out alone."

"What's this? The great Danger Cruz, afraid?" Logan's voice is taunting again. He doesn't want the deep atmosphere that comes with two friends that actually _talk_ to each other decently - no fights and brawls breaking out at random, no dirty talking, nothing.

She laughs in response, managing a _Fuck you_ as she cackles. Then they're both laughing, sitting on the park bench and choking on their laughter, and they don't even know why they're laughing.

iii.

They hold hands sometimes. They don't really _like_ each other, but it's nice to hold someone else's hand when you rarely get the chance to with others. When they hold hands, they're always alone or hiding their hands underneath the table, or slumping together, looking like they're just smushed up to one another.

"Your hand's sweaty," Dana murmurs into Logan's ear, as they sit at the very back of the room, hunched together in one stuffy table, and the teacher is going on about the lesson in the front. Nobody's really paying him any attention except for Zoey and Chase and maybe Quinn, but chances are better that Quinn is really just working on a new experiment ( maybe one that doesn't have to do with boys' ... _ahems_ ).

"Then don't hold it." That stops the conversation clear. Neither hand lets go, and they sit through the rest of the lesson quietly.

"I saw you." Amelia Cerfert's voice is shrill with anger. "I saw you cuddling up to Logan. _I'm_ going out with him, so who the fuck do you think _you_ are to hold him! He loves _me!_" Delusional. She's delusional.

Dana looks up slowly, munching down on her instant noodles once again. This scene is a replay of the previous scene, but hopefully this time, there will be no cafeteria brawl. She takes her time in replying. "Look, fuckface, shouldn't you have figured it out before you started dating him? Reese is only in love with himself." She slams her hands down onto the table and gets up, leaving the cup and Amelia Cerfert behind.

"Hey," Logan says, running to catch up with Dana. She's on her jog again, and this time she's gone without him.

"Hm," she says. They jog in silence for the next fifteen minutes, and when they stop for a water-fountain break, Logan grins nastily and asks,

"Wanna make out?"

She stares at him for a long while before smacking him and scoffing, "What?! What _is_ that!" He snickers and rubs his head. "What's your deal, honestly?"

"What's _your_ deal, Cruz?"

"We're not playing this game, Reese." She warns him. He sticks his tongue at her, and she stomps on his foot before whirling around and continuing to run.

"Hey! Wait up!"

"Screw it," Dana murmurs underneath her breath, and sprints all the way down to her dorm and slams the door shut, ignoring stunned looks from both Nicole and Lola ( Zoey bunks with Quinn nowadays ).

Somewhere else, Logan wonders what the hell Dana's problem is.

iv.

They run often nowadays - now that both of them are on the track team - and so much else has changed - Mark and Quinn are back together, in some strange sense of normality ( it seemed as if they'd never broken up, the way they were now ), and Chase has finally given up on Zoey, because she had dated James in the short time he was gone, and he just couldn't really handle the way he felt as if he was being stepped on anymore. He's left Zoey alone, and she can't figure out why.

The only thing that has remained constant this whole time is their running, and the feeling of being the same ( not similar, but one person altogether ) when they run, mostly silent and never talking too much, because it requires too much breath.

And then -

"How'd you react if I told you I'm in love with you?" Logan asks nonchalantly, flicking at his hair, which he still keeps constantly curled to perfection. They play this game sometimes - of random what-if questions and what-if answers, and sometimes, they are disappointed by the answers the other gives.

"I'd laugh, because Logan Reese is only in love with himself." Dana repeats what she'd said to Amelia Cerfert months ago.

"Well, come up with a better one," his voice is strangely husky, and she looks up to see him leaning in and her brain has malfunctioned because all it says now is,

_Oh Lord, oh Lord, this isn't right, what the fuck, this isn't what's supposed to happen!_

And even though her brain is saying that, her body is responding on its own. Her hand finds itself in his hair, and she's surprised that there isn't the usual goop of gel in it because it feels soft and cared for, and then she thinks again,

_Oh god, stop making me fall in love with you._

And now he's left her lips, and she's finding herself wanting to pull him back and do that all over again. She touches her lips and blinks at him.

"What" - she breathes - "was that?"

"That was nothing," he replied, "Compared to what I could be doing."

She blushes and gets up and begins to jog ( she's been running from him a lot these days ). "Yo!" He yells behind her, and he begins to sprint after her. She won't ever let anyone know this - that it feels so warm and good to know that someone is chasing after her because they want her - because nobody's ever really wanted her around much.

They hold hands sometimes. Okay, way more than just sometimes - they hold hands so often that it's crazy that their hands can even separate and stay attached to their own respective bodies.

There are still the whispers of _Emo bitch_ and there are still girls who throw themselves at Logan just so that they can get on his good side - none of that has changed. But they don't run _from_ those fuck-ups who insist on making them miserable - they run _at_ them, full speed, and they're doing just fine.


End file.
